Political unrest, hippos, curtain, et al

Hello All,

First, my apologies for being so eradic. Some of you have expressed concern over the political unrest in Niger. I was trying not to let the cat out of the bag so as not to alarm you, but my well versed friends are tuning in anyway:) Yes, the president of Niger has declared emergency rule -basically a coup by the etat because he doesn't want to leave just as uranium and oil are getting hot in Niger. It's greed, plain and simple. He was denied by the congress and all his political allies are leaving him high and dry- hence the emergency. There are speculations that the military may just get rid of him, like they've done with every president before him who tried to pull a stunt like this. It's pretty odd really, the president is not concerned that all but two or three of Niger's presidents were killed in power because they wouldn't leave.

But, the funny thing is that life goes on as normal and nobody seems particularly concerned. I guess it's like when news of the student riots were all over the news when I was in Dakar, but the most I saw of it was a burning tire. Cheikh is the security officer for MC Niger and has just been given a sattelite phone, so if anything needs doing, we'll be the first to know.

So, while the cauldron bubbles, Cheikh is in Agadez, falling in love with the desert. He is visiting field offices to train new teams, while K and I prepare to move into our house on Wednesday, when Cheikh will join us. I have been quite literally picking out curtains (and bargaining for everything from buckets to sheets, and an iron.) We should have all the essentials before we move in. Today, the workmen came to measure the pool to build the fence and to "treat" the house for bugs.

Yesterday was magic. K and I ventured out with our friends, Jackie and her son, BJ to see hippos in the river. Wow. Just 20 minutes out of the city, we climbed into a pirogue and set off on the river. It was wide and beautiful, but low, so there were still a lot of rocks to navigate. We stopped on a little beach island in the middle of the river, where we walked to where we could see the hippos. Wow, wow and wow. First we just saw ears, flicking abover the water, then whole heads and half a body. There were six of them there, all bobbing up and down, grouped all together. K and BJ didn't give a hoot about the hippos, but they were enthralled with running in the water and digging in the sand with sticks. Luckily we had two wonderful piroguiers to assist. I think it was just what we needed, this beautiful breath of Africa.

Apparently, you can do all sorts of touristy things out there, like camp, grill, and picnic. Oh, and ride camels to the local market. All for a price, of course.

Last weekend, we saw giraffes in the wild. This is the most, besides goats, I've ever seen in Africa! That was really cool too. K and I both wanted to chase them, but were told not to. They were so big and bright and beautiful. When the car pulled up they all froze like they thought they might pass as trees, and we wouldn't even notice them. But, once we got out, they started walking. It didn't seem like they walked very quickly, but their long strides covered a lot of ground and we couldn't keep up without the car.

Karim will be starting his new school later this week, so I'm holding my breath and second guessing all my school choices. hmph! But, we'll give it the old college try and see how it goes at Ecole Alliance. Carine, our landlady is coming home today, so we'll be staying all together for two nights. Only in Africa, right? Anyway, she's bringing her 2yr old daughter, so that should be fun for K. Carine's daughter also goes to Alliance, so I will pick her brain about that as well.

We are all happy and healthy and hope you are the same. Of course we miss Papa/Cheikh and are looking forward to our reunion on Wednesday. With him, hopefully, will come the camera and videos of Agadez.
Love to All! Send me your news!